Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen professed her disappointment over not being tapped for a second term by President Donald Trump, as she also predicted the central bank would keep on its path of gradual interest-rate increases.
“I would have liked to serve an additional term and I did make that clear, so I will say I was disappointed not to be reappointed,” she said Friday on the PBS NewsHour program in a rare television interview. In her last day on the job, Ms Yellen added, “I feel great about the economy, I think things are looking very strong.”
“The Federal Reserve has been on a path of gradual rate increases and if conditions continue as they have been, that process is likely to continue,” she said.
In a break from past practice, Trump opted not to nominate Yellen to a second four-year term. Instead, he chose fellow Republican Jerome Powell to head the central bank. Earlier on Friday, the Brookings Institution announced Yellen is joining the Washington-based think tank to continue her economic studies and particularly her analysis of the labor market. Powell is to be sworn in as chair on Monday, February 5 at 9 a.m.
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Read more:
US Senate confirms Jerome Powell as next Federal Reserve chair
Why GCC states should ditch the dollar peg and switch to a currency basket
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Ms Yellen said gains in the labor market had begun to benefit “almost all groups in the American economy” and she expected the pace of wage growth to move up, but perhaps not dramatically.
“Ultimately it’s limited by productivity growth, which is weak,” she said.
During Ms Yellen’s four-year term, unemployment fell to 4.1 per cent, from 6.7 per cent when she took office. The January reading, released earlier Friday, matched the lowest since 2000 and was below the level that most economists -- including those at the Fed -- reckon is equivalent to full employment.
Inflation, though, has consistently fallen short of the Fed’s 2 percent objective during Ms Yellen’s tenure and stood at 1.7 per cent in December, according to the Fed’s favorite price gauge. Ms Yellen and her fellow policy makers said this week that they expect inflation to rise this year and to hit their target “over the medium term.”
Notwithstanding this week’s rout in the stock market, investors have prospered during Ms Yellen’s time atop the central bank. Since she took control in February 2014, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen by more than 65 per cent.
As Fed chair, Ms Yellen began the process of exiting from the extraordinary measures that the Fed put in place during the financial crisis and its aftermath, gingerly lifting interest rates from near zero per cent and slowly scaling back the central bank’s big holdings of bonds.
Ms Yellen’s exit marks the end of more than 15 years of public service in two stints at the central bank. She first served as a governor under Chairman Alan Greenspan in 1994 to 1997. She returned as president of the San Francisco Fed in 2004, became vice chair in 2010 and chair in 2014.
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
Mobile phone packages comparison
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
THREE
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Uefa Nations League
League A:
Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, France, England, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Iceland, Croatia, Netherlands
League B:
Austria, Wales, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Turkey
League C:
Hungary, Romania, Scotland, Slovenia, Greece, Serbia, Albania, Norway, Montenegro, Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania
League D:
Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Latvia, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Malta, Andorra, Kosovo, San Marino, Gibraltar
'The Batman'
Stars:Robert Pattinson
Director:Matt Reeves
Rating: 5/5
Empty Words
By Mario Levrero
(Coffee House Press)
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Biography
Her family: She has four sons, aged 29, 27, 25 and 24 and is a grandmother-of-nine
Favourite book: Flashes of Thought by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Favourite drink: Water
Her hobbies: Reading and volunteer work
Favourite music: Classical music
Her motto: I don't wait, I initiate
